ZAGREB WHILE IT WASN'T, BEFORE THE YEAR 1094

Unveiled: 16th May 2015This coin was found in 1888 on what was than Ban Jelačić Square today Trga Bana Josipa Jelačića 12. The coin was mint in the year 299 in the imperial coin mint in Ticinum, Italy. The original is kept at The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb

A MAMUTH IN FRANKOPANSKA STREET

Unveiled : June 11 1992 – destroyedUnveiled: March 28 2015At the beginning of the 20th century, during the excavation for the foundations of a building at 10 Frankopanska Steet – today known as the Gavella theatre – the hip bone of a hairy mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) was discovered. The original is in the collection of The Croatian Natural History Museum.

EGNATULEIO FLORENTINO IN PARK RIBNJAK

Unveiled: October 25 2014A 161 cm tall copy of a tombstone of Egnatuleio Florentino was unveiled in the middle of the Ribnjak Park, behind the Zagreb cathedral. The original was made in the 2nd century AD. As it was made of limestone, a relatively soft stone, it is badly damaged and the inscription is not completely preserved. Today, it is exhibited in the collection of stone monuments at the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb. It was brought there by the efforts of Josip Brunšmid, the director of the Archaeological Museum, at the end of the 19th century. "…and until 1873 it was built in the house at Ribnjak in Zagreb".

Unveiled: November 11 2001The first Christians in Zagreb lived at the time of the Roman Empire, and the earliest evidence of their existence is a small bronze oil lamp discovered in the 1950s in Mirogojska Road. The oil lamp, cast in bronze, has the body in the shape of a lamb (agnus dei), and Christ’s initials written over it. Due to small dimensions of the original (only 95 mm in length), the replica was enlarged and unveiled on the crossroads of Mirogojska Road and Rockefeller Street. The original is kept at The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb.

THE PODSUSED WHALE

Unveiled: April 22 200112 to 15 million years ago, large areas of Zagreb were under the Pannonian Sea. A 150 years old small quarry in Podsused, Zagreb’s western part, was frequently visited by antique collectors. There they uncovered more than 1000 fish fossils and almost 300 plant species. Among these findings, they uncovered the remains of a sea mammal; the remains of the skeleton of a “baby” whale which was stranded on the sea bay twelve million years ago. After it was discovered in the 19th century and after its remains were studied, it was established that it was a completely new and unknown species. In the paleontological literature it was named according to the place of discovery “Mesocetus agrami” or “the Zagreb whale”. The wale is six meters long and it is our biggest monument. Its replica was put up above the Podsusedsko Dolje stream – as if it is still swimming today.

TOMBSTONE CRENNELATION – GORNJI BUKOVEC

Unveild: February 7 1999In 1995, a marble part of the crenelation of a Roman tombstone was accidentally discovered at 1 Gornji Bukovac. The monument is dated to the 2nd or 3rd century AD and it is assumed that it was originally placed at one of the Roman graveyards in the vicinity of Gornji Bukovac or Dubrava.

ACONIA SALVIA ON KAPTOL

Unveiled: July 26 1994The copy of a Roman tombstone from the 1st century AD was put up on the renaissance Kaptol tower north of the Cathedral. Until the 19th century, the monument was kept at one of the chanceries of Kaptol and then moved to the archaeological department of The National Museum – today’s Archaeological Museum in Zagreb. The tombstone was sculpted and ordered by Gaius Iulius Paternus, who had the inscription carved for his wife Aconia Salvia.

JUPITER IN BANJAVČIĆEVA STREET

Unveiled: June 18 1993A small bronze statue of the Roman god Jupiter was found in May 1931 at 3 Banjavčićeva Street. The 19.5 cm high statue, made around the year 300 AD, remained in private ownership and was never acquired for any of the museums in Zagreb. A larger scale replica was made according to a preserved photograph and placed in front of the “Textilpromet” building.

THE INTERSECTION OF SAVSKA ROAD AND VUKOVARSKA STREET

Unveiled: October 14 1992Immediately prior to the Second World War, two Roman cremation graves, dated to the 1st/ 2nd centuries AD, were discovered at the intersection of Savska Road and Vukovarska Street. The graves were discovered while building the foundations for a curved building on the north-western corner of the intersection. The graves contained primarily pottery material, and a relief of a double-handled jug was placed on the memorial.

STENJEVEC – PARISH CHURCH

Unveiled: August 15 1992The site of the present parish church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Stenjevec was once the location of a settlement during the Roman period. Additionally, one of the largest Roman period cemeteries of the early Imperial period in Northern Croatia was discovered in the immediate vicinity (1st/2nd centuries AD). A total of 128 graves were discovered between 1896 and 1898, and another was discovered by coincidence in 1913.

A ROMAN IN PETRINJSKA STREET

Unveiled: May 31 1992The marble head of a bearded male was discovered around the year 1870 during an excavation for a well at 3 Petrinjska Street. It is not known how it came into the possession of Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski, but in 1873, he donated it to the Archaeological Department of The National Museum (today’s Archaeological Museum in Zagreb).

PONTIUS IN KERESTINEC

Unveiled: October 14 1990The tombstone of Pontius was discovered at the end of the 19th century in the vicinity of Kerestinec, and has been in the collection of The Archaeological Museum in Zagreb since 1896. It is currently displayed in the lapidarium of the museum. The tombstone is of particular interest due to its rustic nature, and it is assumed that it was carved by a local stone mason in the 3rd century AD. It was erected in one of numerous Roman cemeteries in the Zagreb region, in the vicinity of the important road linking Emona (Ljubljana) and Siscia (Sisak).